The Tainted Tide
by skitchie
Summary: Sergeant Raphael of the Dark Angels 5th Company doesn't think much when he is ordered to be part of a group attacking an Ork invasion force. But the more he fights the green tide, the more he realizes darker forces are at work.


The Tainted Tide (Chapter I Preview)

The dense mix of smog, clouds, and toxic gasses was pierced as three enormous flying machines roared through the skies of Iabreon VI, the noise of their engines reverberating for miles around.

The three Dark Angels Thunderhawk Gunships rapidly descended at a furious rate in a move to get as little distance between them and the surface as soon as possible. It did not take long before the sky around the ships was littered with clots of flak from the surface.

"Incoming fire," warned the pilot of Sargent Raphael's gunship. The pilot was clad in black armor, a sure sign of a Dark Angel belonging to the renowned Dark Angels 2nd Company, better known as the Ravenwing.

Sargent Raphael regarded the pilot quizzically. During most airborne insertions, normal 5th Company pilots flew the gunships; this insertion was normal for him and his fellow squads, so why did HQ have master pilots guiding the giant metal birds towards the surface?

Raphael turned to address the other members of his squad. "Remember, my brothers," he said. "The second this door opens, you find cover and start firing, I don't care if you can't see the damned greenskins, I better hear some weapons being discharged or the Emperor himself will be the only one who can save you from my wrath."

In the back of the ship, he heard Cario chuckle. That's good, he thought to himself. As strict as Raphael could be, he knew he needed to keep his men calm, loosed and focused just before a battle. He knew that if anything was going to get his men killed, it would be brash acts caused by nervousness and uncertainty.

In the middle of the group, Eligius peered through the small viewing port in the side of the ship. The other two gunships, he knew, contained multiple squads. The first ship, nicknamed "Salvationbringer" contained two devastator squads and a tactical squad. They would be landing near the front, and as a result taking the brunt of the fire, so the devastator squads were outfitted with missile launchers and heavy bolters while the tactical squad would provide close support.

The second ship, nicknamed "Zealot", contained three more tactical squads. They would move under the cover of Salvationbringer's troops and would make the main assault on the Ork position.

Oddly enough, their ship, nicknamed "Emperor's Wrath", only contained Raphael's squad. A single gunship could hold three squads, so why was their squad the only one on the ship? There were many unanswered questions that multiple members of the squad noted, but they dismissed them in order to concentrate on the upcoming battle.

"Brother Adrien," called Raphael to the newest member of the squad.

"Yes, brother sergeant?" answered Adrien back.

"Are you anxious for the imminent fight?"

"Not a bit, brother sergeant," answered Adrien back confidently. "I have heard many tales of your exploits, and I am sure that under your protection, and under that of the Emperor's, I am in good hands."

Raphael noticed Adrien was confident in his skills and in those of his squad. He was honored that, on his first mission with the veteran squad, he was already prepared to put his life in his sergeant's hands.

"Two minutes to landing," called the pilot over the vox.

Raphael noticed that the flak was becoming worse. The ship rattled and shook, and on more than one occasion, he and his squad were sent sprawling in the cabin of the ship as it weaved to dodge the thick clouds of anti-aircraft fire.

In the back of the group, Cario quietly sang a litany of faith to the Emperor. Even though he was not a psyker, Cario was by far the most spiritual member of the veteran squad. After every successful engagement, he was quick to praise the emperor. After any failed engagement, he was the first to apologize to the Emperor for failing Him. As superstitious as he could be, however, the rest of the squad was aware that the Emperor was definitely looking over him. On more than one occasion, he could be seen standing in the midst of a firefight unloading his bolter at the enemy somehow avoiding shot after shot. For this quality, the squad affectionately looked at Cario as it's good luck charm.

Down below through the starboard viewing port, Raphael could see the village they were being sent to protect. While patrolling near the Iabreon system, they heard a distress call coming from the nearby planet Iabreon VI exclaiming that an Ork invasion force was attacking the planet. Oddly, Iabreon VI held no tactical advantage to the Orks. It was not near any valuable tactical points, and scans indicated it devoid of valuable materials.

Odder still, was the fact that the village also reported Chaos Space Marines among the green tide.

The Thunderhawks began to level out as the LZ grew closer and closer. In all three ships, the Marines inside began to solemnly chant litanies amongst themselves, a habit the Dark Angels are renowned for.

In Emperor's Wrath, squad Raphael was chanting an ancient hymn of the Dark Angels, one that all new neophytes were taught at their induction into the chapter:

_What is it that gives us purpose?_

_War_

_What is it that gives the war purpose?_

_To vanquish the foes of the emperor_

_What is the foe of the Emperor?_

_The heretic, the alien and the mutant._

_What is it to be an enemy of the Emperor?_

_It is to be damned._

_What is it to be the instrument of the emperor's damnation?_

_We, the space marines, the angels of death._

_What is it to be a space marine?_

_It is to be pure, to be strong, to show no pity, nor mercy, nor remorse._

_What is it to be pure?_

_to never know fear, to never waver in the fight._

_What is it to be strong?_

_To fight on when others flee; to stand and die in the knowledge that death brings ultimate reward._

_What is the ultimate reward?_

_To serve the emperor_

_Who do we serve?_

_We serve the emperor, and the Lion, and through them we serve mankind._

_What is it to be dark angels?_

_It is to be first, the hounoured, the sons of the Lion._

_What is our quest? To purge our shame through the death of those who turned on the Lion._

_What is our victory?_

_To remake that which was broken, to earn the trust of the emperor once more._

_What is the fate of the fallen we hunt?_

_Retribution and death!_

_Be pure in mind, body and spirit. As the water flows over you, let your hate flow through you. As the lost water is spilt, let us spill the blood of our foes. As the water dries, let us harden our hearts to fear. We are the Dark Angels, the chosen of the emperor, the holy knights of calibahn. The blood of the Lion flows through our veins. His strength beats in our hearts. His spirit resides within us._

"Ten seconds," warned the pilot.

A grim silence befell the interior of the gunship as it approached the dusty and barren ground. Only the sound of the ship's engines could be heard as the men primed their weapons and lined up in a tactical wedge formation behind the ship's main door.

"Five,"

"Remember, brothers," said Raphael

"Three"

"The Emperor protects!"

"One"

"The Emperor protects!" echoed back the rest of the squad.

The ship came to a halt as it came into contact with a loud _whump_.

"Contact," said the pilot.

The slow and loud _whir_ of the ship's main door opening signaled the men to brace themselves and to prepare to find cover.

Then, the door hit the ground, and the Marines snapped into action.

Raphael was the first out the door, and instantly he could hear the snap of bullets impacting nearby. He quickly scanned his surroundings and noted the fire coming from the crest of a hill about three hundred yards away.

"Contacts to the North, three hundred yards," he said into his vox.

"I see them," said Onalia, as he started unloading his heavy bolter in the general direction of the enemy.

Raphael found cover behind a large boulder, and peeked around it's side to get a good look at what they were up against.

He saw at least one Rattler Kannon emplacement along the ridgeline, occupied with the devastator squad, which was currently taking the majority of it's fire. He also spotted one or two squads of orks with shootas taking potshots at the main assault force. Luckily, it seemed none of the ork force spotted his squad.

"Move up brothers, but be cautious, we can't afford to have that kannon spot us," ordered Raphael.

The squad emerged from cover and slowly made their way up the clearing, attempting to stay as quiet as possible.

Over to the east, Raphael saw the devastator squad taking heavy casualties as one of the marines operating a heavy bolter took a kannon round right in the neck. Odd, he thought, Orks are never this accurate, especially from this far away.

"Wait," said Torilia into the vox. "I hear something. Sounds like vehicles."

Just as Torilia finished speaking, Raphael saw them. Five ork warbikes careening over the ridge at full speed, right for his squad.

"Everyone, find cover!" yelled Raphael into the vox. He barely had time to finish his sentence before the bikes started firing into the middle of his squad.

He heard a loud _whump_ as one of the biker's rounds hit Elmonius right below the shoulder. He saw the marine stumble from the recoil of the shot. He looked like he was going to make it to cover, but suddenly, one of the charging bikes ran head on into Elmonius who was instantly crushed under the weight and velocity of the bike.

"Throne!" roared Raphael into the vox. "Elmonius is down." Of all the deaths he did not expect, Elmonius was at the top. Elmonius was the squad's most agile marine. While quiet, and known to be a bit of a recluse, he was surprised and shocked at the same time that such a skilled and experienced marine would get hit and killed by a biker.

By this point the squad had found cover and was returning fire at the ork bikers. All but Cario, anyway, who as usual, was standing behind a boulder, unloading round after round towards the leader of the biker mob.

"Squad," announced Raphael. "Initiate defensive patter Jupiter, go!"

The defensive circle of marines sprang out of cover and engaged the bikers who had been riding in sweeping circles around the squad.

Torilia leveled his bolter and fired three rounds at a bike riding directly past him. All three hit the driver who, dead and slumped over the controls, veered the bike sharply. So much so, it flipped and combusted, leaving a flaming ball of wreckage all that was left when it stopped rolling.

One bike turned into the formation of marines and accelerated directly at Raphael. He quickly took aim, and fired a salvo of rounds into the bike's front tire. The tire exploded and the bike flipped end over end, crushing it's rider when it slammed violently into the dusty ground.

The last three bikes veered off and rejoined a line formation, turned, and accelerated directly at the marines.

All members of squad Raphael took aim at their targets, and unloaded a deadly salvo into the bike formation. Amazingly, only one of the bikes took a hit when a lucky bolter round hit the rider directly between the eyes. The other bikes weaved and avoided the squad's rounds.

The bikes turned for another pass and the squad took this opportunity to fire again at the squad. This time, Cario was able to hit one of the bike's fuel tanks just as it passed it's wingman, and both bikes exploded in a giant fireball, consuming bike and rider alike.

"That's the last of them," reported Eligius into the vox.

"Brother Sergeant Raphael?" said Adrien.

"Yes, brother Adrien?"

"Are ork bikers always this skilled?" asked Adrien quizzically.

Raphael turned to the newest member of the squad. "Not that I can remember, there is definitely something going on here. What it is, however, I cannot tell."

Suddenly, a voice tuned into the vox. "Sergeant Raphael, this is Sergeant Ardosia."

"How can I help?" asked Raphael to the head of the devastator squad.

"We need you to take down that Kannon emplacement, we're pinned down and taking heavy casualties!" yelled the sergeant, a tone of worry eminent in his voice.

"What about the main assault force? What happened to them?"

"The damned greenskins have them pinned down too, I've lost contact with their sergeant."

"Duly noted, brother, we're on our way. Raphael out." Raphael turned to address his squad. "Onalia, you're taking point. Cario and Eligius, keep an eye on our flanks, I don't want to be ambushed again. Torilia, you and I are bringing up the rear. Onalia, when you're about one hundred yards from the kannon emplacement, hold your position and wait for me to give the signal to engage. Go."

The squad moved quickly and quietly, hugging the base of the hill until the kannon emplacement was right above them. They could hear the heavy _wham_ of each kannon shot. In the short lulls in salvos when they would reload, they could hear the squad leader, barking orders to his orks.

"Brother Ardosia, are you still there?" Raphael asked into the vox.

"I hear you Raphael, are you at the emplacement yet?"

"Affirmative. When the kannon stops to reload again, I want you to start giving us some covering fire, we don't want to take any casualties climbing the hill."

"Got it. We're all set," answered back Sergeant Ardosia.

Eventually, after about a minute of firing, the barrels hushed and the head ork began to yell to reload to his orks.

"Now, brothers, attack!" yelled Raphael into the vox.

Suddenly, the emplacement started taking heavy fire from brother Ardosia's squad.

"Stay down!" yelled one of the orks. "But keep reloadidn'! I don' wanna see you stoppin' again, you 'ear me?"

"Go!" said Raphael.

Onalia was the first to go over the crest of the hill, a mere ten yards from the emplacement. He started firig his heavy bolter into the cluster of orks, and cut down three of them.

The rest of the squad followed behind, firing round after round into the still-shocked orks. A few took pot shots at Raphael and his squad, but none managed to land a hit. The last surviving ork took cover behind the kannon.

"Sir," said Torilia into the vox. "Permission to engage this one in CQC."

"Go ahead Torilia, he's yours," responded Raphael.

Torilia moved ahead of his squad and turned on his chainsword. The loud _whir_ of the spinning blades signaled victory for the squad as Torilia moved behind the gun. Suddenly, the ork pulled out a sword of his own.

Torilia, surprised, missed his chance to strike. The ork howled, charged at Torilia, and swung his sword in a large arc. Torilia brought his chainsword up and blocked the blow. He pulled his chainsword back and made a low cut at the creature's legs. Amazingly, the orc parried the blow and knocked Torilia's arm away.

The whole squad then watched as the orc took a hard chop at the disarmed marine and split his skull right down the middle.

"Damnation!" yelled Raphael.

"By the Throne!" howled Cario.

"Squad!" yelled Raphael into the vox. "Eliminate the target with extreme prejudice!"

The squad took no objection to the order and proceeded to fill the ork with bolter rounds. By the end of the salvo, the ork was in several pieces scattered around all that was left of the emplacement. What was once the kannon was now a pile of twisted and warped metal.

As the smoke cleared from the area, none of the marines dared speak. They had just witnessed an ork-and a grunt at that-singlehandedly defeat one of their seasoned veterans in one-on-one combat.

"This can't be a standard ork attack force," said Cario darkly, breaking the stunned silence that befell the squad.

"There has to be an outside force at work here," added Onalia.

Raphael couldn't agree more. Never in all his years of combat experience had he witnessed orks fight this effectively, not even the deadly ork kommandos.

Normal orks were unruly and disorganized, and generally could not hit a stationary target from more than one hundred yards away. These orks fought with cold precision, as if they were expertly trained. These orks were lethal.

"Greetings, brothers," said a voice behind Raphael.

Raphael turned to see what was left of the broken devastator squad. Of the entire squad, three marines were accompanying Sergeant Ardosia towards his squad.

Ardosia's armor was littered with scorch marks and was dented in multiple locations. There were streaks of blood and soot smeared across his chest plate.

The three marines behind him did not look like they had fared much better, either. One marine's helmet was shattered near the faceplate and blood was dripping from his forehead. The second marine, heavy bolter in hand, was missing a chunk of his shoulder and was limping badly. The last marine's arm was in a hastily tied sling and was breathing heavily, as if each step felt like a thousand.

"I'm glad to see you are safe," said Raphael to Ardosia.

"I am relatively unharmed," said Ardosia. "Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for the rest of my squad," he added somberly.

"They died well and with honor", added Raphael in an attempt to console the heartbroken Sergeant.

Ardosia nodded in the direction of what was left of the kannon. "I don't know if you noticed-"started Ardosia.

"These orks fight like no other group we have encountered? Yes, I noticed," said Raphael.

"I don't understand," said Ardosia, a puzzled tone in his voice. "Every time one of us would peek out of cover to return fire, that forsaken kannon would effortlessly pick him off! I have never seen orks fight like this. It's unnatural. I don't like it."

While the two sergeants conversed, Raphael's squad moved to assist the broken marines of Ardosia's squad.

"I'm sorry," said Eligius to the marine in the sling. He wished he could say more, but nothing came.

The marine took off his helmet. Eligius could tell he was new. He looked youthful, his skin unscarred save for a glancing wound just above the ear.

"Tell me," said the young marine to Eligius. "Have you ever seen nearly all of your battle brothers killed in a matter of minutes and thought, 'How does the Emperor protect if he lets things like this happen?'" said the marine in an accusatory voice.

Eligius simply looked at the marine, and said "The Emperor always protects," and turned away.

"Now the question remains," said Raphael to Ardosia. "Where is the main assault force?"

"I wish I knew," responded Ardosia grimly. "We lost contact not long after insertion. We started to lay down covering fire for them and they moved East towards that ridge," he nodded to a large hill in the distance, "to get the advantage of high ground. They disappeared behind the hill, and after that we lost vox contact permanently."

"Well then," said Raphael, "there is only one thing to do. My squad and I will head east and attempt to establish direct contact with the main assault force. Do you wish to accompany us?"

"I'm afraid that with the status my squad is in, we would do more harm than good. We will remain here and secure the LZ. We will also secure the gene seeds from our fallen brothers," he indicated to the corpse of Torilia. "May the Emperor watch over you."

"And you as well."

Raphael inspected the remnants of Ardosia's squad and was struck with a feeling of pity. Ardosia's squad, like Raphael's, consisted of veterans. Most of these men had fought together for years. And in the span of twelve standard terran minutes, five of Ardosia's close brothers had been killed.

He then turned to his own squad and thought about the battle that was sure to occur very soon. If just one of those orks was able to defeat a seasoned veteran, a master of hand to hand combat, he worried at what a force of ten, or twenty, or a hundred of these orks would be capable of doing to his brothers.

"Cario," called Raphael.

"Yes, brother Sergeant?"

"I hope the Emperor is with you today. We're going to need it."

This time, no laugh escaped Cario's mouth. Every marine in the squad knew this new enemy they were up against was deadly, and was far more numerous in numbers. Each marine looked at his brother, not sure if this would be the last time they would fight together.

"Squad," said Raphael. "Move out. And stay alert," he ordered solemnly.

The rest of the squad fell in behind their sergeant and begain the long trek.

"Brother Sergeant?" asked Adrien into the vox.

"What is it, Adrien?"

"I remember hearing about Chaos Space Marines being sighted during the briefing. Could they possibly have anything to do with this?"

Raphael had not forgot the report of Chaos Marines during the briefing. The thought plagued his mind throughout the entire engagement.

"I wish I knew, Adrien," he said, wishing he could give his newest squad member an answer.

As the squad of Dark Angels walked through the barren wasteland, Raphael looked around to examine his surroundings.

If Iabreon VI was ever lush or vegetated, it showed no signs of it here. The ground was brittle and dry, devoid of any sort of fauna or flora of any kind. He wondered how the citizens of this planet had managed to get by when farming was obviously not an option. The air was dry and heavy, the upper atmosphere being filled with poisonous gasses, so densely packed that any attempt of communication with the battlebarge in space was futile.

"Brother Sergeant?" asked Adrien again after about five minutes.

"What now, Adrien?" The lull in action was starting to get to Raphael. He was tense, like a taut rope, waiting to come under fire at any minute, and his patience was wearing thin.

"What happens after we find the main assault force?"

"We head back to the LZ and leave," said the sergeant.

"We aren't going to offer the villagers any aid?" asked Adrien, a tone of concern noticeable in his voice.

"These people were getting by before we arrived, and they can get by after we leave," he stated simply.

"We aren't going to search for the supposed Chaos Space Marine presence?"

Raphael's patience had reached its breaking point now. Between the looming threat of ork ambush and the discomforting quiet in the air, the last thing he wanted to do was answer his newest squad member's trivial questions.

"I don't know, Adrien! I don't know what to expect anymore! Throne, we just witnessed a single ork kannon decimate an entire squad of fully armored and equipped devastators! Now maintain silence, and concentrate on what's around you, we could get ambushed any minute."

"Yes sir. Got it sir," muttered Adrien, turning to the squad's right flank and watching the horizon for signs of movement.

Finally, after half an hour, the squad reached the base of the hill the main assault force was last seen at.

"Brother Ardosia, this is Raphael" he said into his vox.

"Go ahead brother Raphael."

"We have reached the hill the assault force was last seen rounding. We're about to go around the western side. Expect vox silence from here on out."

"Message received, brother. May the Emperor watch over you. Ardosia out." The vox clicked and all became silent again.

"Onalia, how are you on ammo?" asked Raphael.

"About two hundred rounds left, sir," reported Onalia back after a quick check of his heavy bolter.

"Okay then, you take point. Move up."

The squad began to round the hill, and the LZ slowly left their view.

"I don't like this," said Cario. "There is definitely something wrong here. It's chaos, it has to be!"

After a few minutes, a foul stench began to fill the air. It was the smell of death, of fire, of destruction. The farther they got to the western face of the hill, the worse the stench got.

Suddenly, Onalia stopped and planted his back to the face of the hill. "I hear something. Anyone else hear it?" he asked nervously.

After a slight pause, Eligius spoke up. "I hear it too. Some kind of moaning. Whatever it is, it's in great pain."

"I'm going to lean around the corner and attempt to see what it is," said Onalia.

"Be careful, Onalia," said Raphael. "We don't know what lies around that corner."

"Got it sir, I'll be cautious," responded Onalia quietly in a hushed voice.

Slowly and quietly, Onalia peeked around the corner of the hill.

"By the throne…" said Onalia disbelievingly. Whatever he was seeing, Raphael could tell it shocked the veteran marine.

Raphael quietly moved up beside Onalia, and looked around the corner as well.

What he saw filled him with horror beyond imagination.

The entire assault force, fifty seasoned marines in total, lay dead on the barren, arid ground.

Whoever-or whatever-killed them took great delight in doing so. Many marines' chests were cut open, their entrails thrown carelessly all over the ground. Other marines had their legs and arms cut off, leaving just their head and torso to die a slow and painful death. Still others' skin was charred and burnt, covered in blisters, probably torched with a flamer.

Raphael noticed motion coming from the back of the mass of corpses. What he saw confirmed his worst fears.

A chaos marine psyker was crouched over one of the corpses, examining it intently. After about a minute, he withdrew a force sword, and removed the dead marine's head. Taking a cluster of wire from his robe, he tied the head to his belt, on which several of his brothers' heads sat as a bloody and gruesome decoration.

Laying in the center of the dead, Raphael spotted a large hole. He heard noises of digging and shuffling coming from inside of it. After about a minute, a small ork carrying a shovel climbed out of the hole and approached the psyker, said something, and returned back to his digging.

Whatever the ork said excited the psyker. He began to pace back and forth yelling something inaudibly at the orks inside the hole. Then, the orks, six in total climbed out of the hole and looked at the psyker, their faces devoid of any emotion or expression.

"He's controlling them," growled Cario. "The ork force that attacked us must have been under this heretic's influence."

Cario shuffled nervously. "We must engage him, while he's not expecting it!"

"Agreed," said Raphael quietly. "Squad, engage on my signal."

After a slight pause, he turned to his squad members. "Now, brothers, purge the heretic!" he yelled in an attempt to rally his men.

Then, one by one, the squad rounded the corner and began to open fire, taking aim at the orks first.

Raphael heard a low humming, a droning sound in his ears. He realized it was Cario, chanting a litany while firing at the enemy.

The orks were quickly cut down, but during the firefight with the orks, Raphael failed to notice the psyker.

The psyker was prostrate, his arms raised in the air. The ground in the hole began to shake violently, and Eligius and Adrien stumbled as they lost their footing from the violent vibrations.

"Whatever that psyker is doing, I don't like it! Concentrate your fire on him!" ordered Raphael.

But before anyone could open fire, the psyker let out an ear piercing howl, a noise so foul and unholy it sent shivers down Raphael's spine. He saw Cario on his knees, hands to his ears rolling in pain.

Raphael heard a noise behind him and turned.

He suddenly saw twelve orks emerge through a secret entrance dug into the side of the hill and open fire on their squad.

Cario, who was still writhing on the ground in pain, was the first to fall, a slugga round hitting the crack in his armor where his neck was unprotected, severing his head instantly.

The rest of the squad stumbled for cover while firing behind them at the orks. Onalia emerged from behind a pile of large rocks discarded from the hole and unleashed the full wrath of his heavy bolter upon the orks. A few rounds hit home and he managed to fell two orks before he, too, was hit in the chest and incapacitated, a large hole in his stomach.

Eligius, who had taken cover in the hole, was taking precision shots with his bolter, attempting to pick off a few of the orks. One of the orks who was prone pulled out a grenade, pulled the pin, and hurled it right at the hole Eligius was in.

"Look out! Grenade!" yelled Raphael to his brother.

Eligius only had time to look down before the grenade detonated, sending pieces of him flying out of the hole and onto the battlefield.

Raphael vaulted over the boulder he was behind and drew his chainsword, sprinting at full speed to get as close as he could to the remaining two orks before they noticed him. One turned at him and fired his slugga, but he anticipated the shot, and stepped left, and the shot whizzed by his head.

The ork tried to reach for his axe at his belt, but Raphael had already closed the distance between him and the ork. The ork tried to dodge the swing from Raphael, but wasn't agile enough, and the sword ripped through its flesh, decapitating it in a pool of blood and gore.

But the second ork had time to draw his axe while Raphael was occupied with the other ork, and snuck up behind the Dark Angels sergeant. He had his axe raised and primed to strike, when Adrien, who had been waiting for a clean shot, fired, and hit the ork right between the eyes.

Raphael looked at the ork, and back at Adrien and grinned. "Good shooting brother."

Adrien didn't smile back. "Thank you, brother Sergeant, but we still have a psyker to deal with."

Raphael turned and took out his bolter. The psyker was still in the same position he was in earlier, but now a large square block of stone, about seven feet tall and five feet wide was floating above the hole. Cracks were starting to appear, an unholy purple light emanating from inside the rock.

Raphael took his aim, held his breath, and fired right at the psyker's cranium. His shot hit home, and the psyker's head exploded into a mass of brains and bone shards, and the rest of his body crumpled to the ground.

But it was too late. The cracks in the rock were enormous, and the stone shell shattered. A large purple vortex was floating in the air, thunderous sounds coming from inside it.

"What is it?" asked Adrien, the sound of fear in his voice.

"Some sort of warp portal. Whatever is inside, it's def-"

Raphael was interrupted as the portal warped and twisted. It flashed and lightning started to come out of the vortex. Slowly, a figure emerged out of the portal and lunged at the pair of marines.

Both marines dodged the attack and got a look at their new enemy. It stood about eight feet tall, with the majority of its slimy pink body being made up of its enormous maw, lined with rows of razor sharp teeth. It ran on two long and bony legs, both with sharp clawed paws at their ends.

Raphael fired at the monstrosity, but his rounds impacted the creature, and were slowly absorbed by its body. Likewise, Adrien attempted to strike it with his chainsword, but the beast's skin just absorbed the blow, and the demon struck Adrien with a long arm and sent him sprawling.

"Brother Sergeant?" said Adrien nervously, his voice wavering.

"What, Adrien?"

"Just know… I had to do this. Know I did my best to make the Emperor proud" said Adrien grimly.

Suddenly, Adrien leaped onto his feet, and pulled out one of his frag grenades. It dawned on Raphael what Adrien was attempting to do, and he started to protest, but it was too late. Adrien pulled the pin, ran at the demon and leaped into its sprawling mouth.

All Raphael could do was watch in horror as the demon turned to him, and suddenly exploded, covering the entire area with entrails and limbs.

As the gore rained from the sky, he fell to his knees. He called out to his brothers, but none answered. Not Cario, not Elmonious, not Eligius, not Onalia, not Torilia, not Adrien. He tried to bring up Sergeant Ardosia on the vox, but as he predicted, all he got was static. He looked around in a crazed panic, not knowing what to do or what to say. Then his eyes fell on the body of the psyker.

He stumbled over to the mangled corpse and was filled with hatred at the mere sight of the headless corpse.

"Damn you," he snarled at the lifeless body. "This is all your fault!"

He pounded the ground and kicked it, wanting to kill the nearest living thing. But then he spotted something on the psyker's armor.

On the psyker's shoulder pauldron was a winged sword emblem. Then, it all dawned on him.

This psyker was a Dark Angel.

He looked at the emblem in disbelief for what seemed like a day. This contradicted everything he had been taught, that no Dark Angel had ever been tainted by the corruption of Chaos. Everything he had been told by his superiors was a lie.

But why would they do such a thing? Raphael didn't even know what to believe anymore.

Suddenly he heard a roar above him, and he looked up. The same Thunderhawk that had dropped him and his squad onto the cursed planet's ground had landed in the clearing while he was zoned out. The door opened, and a hulking figure in terminator armor walked out towards him.

The terminator's armor was bone white, meaning he was a member of the legendary Deathwing. The terminator approached him, looking at the carnage with slight discomfort as he walked.

"Are you Sergeant Raphael Oneidas Larcoras?" he asked demandingly.

"Yes, sir, I am Raphael Oneidas Larcoras," he stuttered.

The terminator looked around and then turned back to Raphael. "You say you are a sergeant, and yet I do not see your squad."

Raphael felt a sting of pain at the mention of his dead brothers. "They were killed. A group of orks under the control of this psyker," he motioned to the corpse, "ambushed my squad. He then released a demon, which one of my men sacrificed himself to destroy. I am the sole survivor."

"What can you tell me about this psyker?" asked the terminator curiously.

"All I know is that, well," he took a deep breath and prepared to tell the terminator the dreadful news, "this psyker was a Dark Angel."

A dark expression came upon the terminator's face. "I see. And you are sure of this?"

"Absolutely positive, sir" said Raphael nervously. "I know this sounds insane, but it's true, you can see for yourself."

"Oh no, I believe you," the terminator said solemnly. "But I have to tell you something, something that will clear all of this up."

And then he explained the story of Lion El'Jonson, his success as a primarch. He explained how his best friend Luther's jealousy caused him to betray Jonson. He explained how half of the legion turned to chaos, and he explained their secret hunt.

By the time the terminator was finished, Raphael could hardly believe what he had just heard. "But sir," he stuttered, "if the Emperor were to find out, we could be excommunicated, or killed!"

The terminator simply nodded towards the gunship. "Come with me, sergeant."

Raphael reluctantly followed the terminator into the gunship.

"Taking off now," said the pilot, who reached down and punched the door controls.

As he throttled the engines up, the pilot heard a single bolter shot ring out from inside the cabin.


End file.
